Just Keep Swimming!

We have been moving along steadily in the Home Study process, truth be told, I am loving it. Yes you read that correctly. Prior to starting our adoption journey the Home Study was the part of the process that I dreaded the most. I think that it was mostly the fear of the unknown.

We wondered, “What questions would be asked?”, “Would it feel intrusive?” and most importantly “Will we pass?”

So far we have completed a 3 hour meeting as a couple, reviewing our SAFE questionnaires and expanding on our responses to provide clarity. “Meredith” has done an amazing job of just making the whole process very conversational. We respect the process, and there have not been any questions that don’t make sense. We each then had one on one meetings with our social worker “Meredith” to do dive deeper on our history, learn more about each of us and also answer several more questions. Rob’s was about 3.5 hours long and mine was 3 hours long.

I know it sounds like long sessions, and what could possibly be covered?! Well I can tell you that no stone is left unturned. Parenting is a big responsibility, and we both have 40 years of history to cover. Coming through the process, you reflect back on how you were raised and your experiences growing up and your parents.

It helped me to articulate that I had a pretty amazing childhood, full of opportunity, love and support. It also helped me to see just how amazing my parents are, and what an incredible job they did raising us. As kids we never had any worries, we could just be kids and learn, explore and grow.. knowing that if we stumbled, my Mom and Dad were always there to pick us up and dust us off. I was very luck. I’ve also realized that they have been a huge influence on me and are truly my role models for parenthood and in my relationships. I just can’t believe what they were able to do, given that they had me when my Mom was 19 and my Dad was 21.

Our next and presumably final step in the home study is to actually have a home visit. This will take place next week and will be a chance for “Meredith” to see our home, the neighbourhood, spend time with R’s Dad and check for safety concerns. We’ll also talk more about our relationship as a couple, some financial stuff.. and then next step a full report and hopefully the stamp of “approval”

Until then, we just keep moving along. As Dory says we are going to “Just Keep Swimming”.